Frankfurt, Germany (3)

Although it only cost 3 Euros to go top of the cathedral, I found it was such an amazing experience, not only for the views and feelings I have experienced but also for the satisfactory of a spontaneous decision I have just made purely out of the excitement of “I just want to do it!”

After visiting the cathedral, I picked a random path walking through the old town towards the plaza. Apparently, all the Frankfurt people I met are proud of this plaza and recommended me to go. On my way, I was so cheered up by those little shops encountered — some are art shops, selling pottery and paintings from local artists, and some are designers’ stores. I talked to some designers at the stores, and picked up my favorite outfit, as well as some cute presents for my son. Every time I was out of town alone, I bought all the cute things I adore. When I went home, I displayed them on the floor and let my son choose. This must be his favorite moment to welcome me home. Typically artists’ work and designers’ products are more pricy than the ones sold in the department stores, but I don’t mind. I felt buying such things is a good support for local artists and designers.

Finally, I arrived at the old town plaza! It matches my impression of Germany 🙂 There are restaurants, souvenir shoppers and Gelato shops — quite different styles — some looked cheap and some are fancy. It was funny that I was craving for ice cream then, but when I was about to pay, I saw this man looking at me angrily, I think “aww, cute ice cream can’t match the angry face”, so I decided to not buy it. I was laughing at myself for quite a while for this child-like moment 🙂

I was wandering around the plaza and confused if I have been here before. Then I saw a store which looked familiar from outside — when I walked in, I saw these goodies displayed on the counter — wow, this scene was so familiar, and it’s almost like retrieved this picture from my memory. I suddenly remembered that last time I was with my friend here in this store 3-4 years ago. Such an enlightenment moment, as this is an evidence that sometimes, our memory is based on pictures/scenes alone, not text and words.

Across the plaza, there is this cruise terminal. You can buy a ticket here and immediately board 50-100 minutes cruise on the Main river. The cruises go out several times a day. The last one leaves at 6pm.

Here is the price:

I was in line around 5:53pm (I have no idea the last cruise is 6pm; I just randomly arrived at this terminal after exploring the plaza) and saw a Chinese tourist successfully bought 4 tickets. Then the one Germany tourist in front me has some trouble with his tickets. He was there discussing with the ticket staff for so long. When it is my turn, it was already 6:01pm, the ticket staff even sold me the ticket, but the cruise has just left. I was a bit disappointed when I saw the Chinese took his group on board happily. But oh well, *unfinish* always makes next visit more looking forward to. So I soon forgot this thing and walked towards a cool bridge near the ticket booth.